THE VALUE OF LYM-1 CELLS FOR EXAMINING VACUOLE FORMATION AND LOSS OF CELL VIABILITY INDUCED BY CULTURE SUPERNATES OF HELICOBACTER-PYLORI

Some strains of Helicobacter pylori are known to produce an extracellu lar cytotoxin that causes vacuolation in cultured mammalian cells. Scr eening for such strains makes use of Beta cells which may not be sensi tive enough to detect minimal changes. The aim of this study was to de velop a more sensitive cell line. Vacuole formation was examined in He La cells, as well as four other cell lines established in this laborat ory by ammonium chloride induction, Among five cell lines tested, LYM- 1 cells were most sensitive for the detection of intracellular vacuola tion with this agent, Loss of cell viability of LYM-1 and HeLa cells i nduced by H. pylori culture supernates was also examined: LYM-1 were m ore sensitive than HeLa cells. Cell death was not always accompanied b y vacuole formation. This suggests that the mechanism whereby cell dea th occurs must be different from that for vacuole formation, LYM-1 cel ls may be useful when measuring vacuole formation and cell death of th e cultured cells induced by culture supernates of clinical isolates of H. pylori.